Chiral dynamics of the nuclear equation of state

We present a new chiral power expansion scheme for the nuclear equation of state. The scheme is effective in the sense that it is constructed to work around nuclear saturation density. The leading and subleading terms are evaluated and are shown to provide an excellent equation of state. As a further application we considered the chiral quark condensate in nuclear matter. Already at nuclear saturation density we predict a substantially smaller reduction of the condensate as compared to conventional approaches.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, talk given at: "QCD at Finite Baryon Density", Bielefeld (April 1998

Price Convergence under EMU? First Estimates

This paper examines whether European monetary union has lowered the degree of price dispersion among member countries. A number of different estimation methods are applied to four independent datasets containing prices of identical goods. While the results reported in the paper vary somewhat across goods, they provide little overall support of the European Commission's claim that the single currency would significantly deepen market integration among the euro-zone countries. Even though this should be viewed as preliminary evidence, it does suggest that there are other, more important impediments to market integration in the EU.price convergence, EMU, treatment effect

Aid, Governance, and Private Foreign Investment: Some Puzzling Findings and a Possible Explanation

Does offcial aid pave the road for private foreign investment or does it suffocate private initiative by diverting resources towards unproductive activities? In this paper we explore this question using data for a large number of developing and emerging economies. Controlling for countries’ institutional environment, we find that, evaluated at the mean, the marginal effect of aid on private foreign investment is close to zero. Surprisingly, however, the effect is strictly positive for countries in which private agents face a substantial regulatory burden. After testing the robustness of this result, we offer a theoretical model that is able to rationalize our puzzling observation.

The Macroeconomic Effects of Foreign Aid: A Survey

Research on the macroeconomic effects of aid has expanded rapidly in recent years. In this paper, we provide a survey of this literature. We start by reviewing some theoretical models that suggest a positive impact of aid on investment and growth. We then discuss the empirical evidence, giving particular attention to the role of institutions and policies in determining aid effectiveness. As a general conclusion, we suggest adopting a more disaggregate perspective with respect both to different types of aid and to various aspects of governance.foreign aid, economic growth, institutions, governance

Study of the threshold behavior of the η\etaN scattering amplitude through the associated photoproduction of ϕ\phi- and η\eta-mesons

We suggest that the $\gamma p \to \phi \eta p$ reaction cross section, in the kinematics where the $\eta p$ invariant mass in the final state lies between the threshold value (m$_p$+m$_\eta$) and the N*(1535) resonance mass, is largely determined by the $\eta N$ scattering amplitude close to threshold. The initial photon energy is chosen in the range $4 < E_\gamma^{Lab} < 5$ GeV, in order to reach low (absolute) values of the squared 4-momentum transfer from the initial photon to the final $\phi$-meson. In these conditions, we expect the t-channel $\pi^0$- and $\eta$-meson exchanges to drive the dynamics underlying the $\gamma p \to \phi \eta p$ process. We show that the $\eta$-exchange is the dominating contribution to the cross section while the $\pi^0$-exchange is negligible. The $\eta$-$\pi^0$ interference is of the order of $20 - 30$. The sign of this term is not known and alters significantly our results. Data on the $\gamma p \to \phi \eta p$ process would be therefore very useful to help unravelling the behavior of the $\eta p$ scattering amplitude close to threshold and assessing the possibility of producing $\eta$-nucleus bound states.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, Invited talk at MESON 2006, June 9th-13th, 2006, Cracow (Poland

e+e- pair production from nucleon targets in the resonance region

We present consistent theoretical descriptions of the $\pi N \to e^+e^- N$ and $\gamma N \to e^+e^- N$ reactions on proton and neutron targets for total center of mass energies $\sqrt s$ ranging between 1.50 GeV and 1.75 GeV. These reactions are complementary to study the coupling of low-lying baryon resonances to vector meson-nucleon channels. We show in particular how the resonant structure of the amplitudes for both processes generates specific and large quantum interferences between $\rho$- and $\omega$-meson decays into $e^+e^-$ pairs. Data on the $\pi N \to e^+e^- N$ and $\gamma N \to e^+e^- N$ reactions are expected in the near future from the HADES program at GSI and from dilepton studies with CLAS at JLab.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, Paper presented at Hirschegg 2004, 'Probing nuclei and nucleons with electrons and photons', January 12th-16th, 200

On kinematical constraints in the hadrogenesis conjecture for the baryon resonance spectrum

We consider the reaction dynamics of bosons with negative parity and spin $0$ or $1$ and fermions with positive parity and spin $\frac{1}{2}$ or $\frac{3}{2}$. Such systems are of central importance for the computation of the baryon resonance spectrum in the hadrogenesis conjecture. Based on a chiral Lagrangian the coupled-channel partial-wave scattering amplitudes have to be computed. We study the generic properties of such amplitudes. A decomposition of the various scattering amplitudes into suitable sets of invariant functions expected to satisfy Mandelstam's dispersion-integral representation is presented. Sets are identified that are free from kinematical constraints and that can be computed efficiently in terms of a novel projection algebra. From such a representation one can deduce the analytic structure of the partial-wave amplitudes. The helicity and the conventional angular-momentum partial-wave amplitudes are kinematically constrained at the Kibble conditions. Therefore an application of a dispersion-integral representation is prohibitively cumbersome. We derive covariant partial-wave amplitudes that are free from kinematical constraints at the Kibble conditions. They correspond to specific polynomials in the 4-momenta and Dirac matrices that solve the various Bethe-Salpeter equations in the presence of short-range interactions analytically.Comment: 18 page